Applied Physics Laboratory’s Jack Roberts Named American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow

Jack C. Roberts, a program manager and principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

The honor recognizes Roberts’ significant engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession. His expertise includes structural analysis, composite materials, biomaterials, biomechanics and tribology — the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion. Since joining APL in 1990 he has led programs covering buckling and bending of composite panels and the development of computational and experimental models of the human body, including a lifelike torso model for studying the mechanics of ballistic and blast-related injuries.

“Jack is the consummate engineer,” says Mo Dehghani, head of APL’s Technical Service Department, who nominated Roberts for the Fellow designation. “He has integrated results of his and others’ research to develop and invent numerous practical engineering systems in his field of mechanics of materials. From a very personal perspective — as his supervisor, as a colleague and as a fellow engineering instructor — I cherish my interactions with Jack. He is well deserving of the outstanding ASME recognition.”

Roberts’ numerous awards include APL’s Master Inventor, Outstanding Paper and Inventor of the Year, as well as the George Westinghouse Signature Award of Excellence, the Bendix Special Commendation Award and Science Spectrum magazine’s Senior Technical Fellow Emerald Award. He has 13 patents and has written or contributed to more than 100 publications and presentations.

Roberts, who has a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering from University of Michigan, is one of only 3,032 Fellows out of 113,361 total ASME members. ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society.